The present disclosure relates generally to remanufacturing disposable medical sensors and, more particularly, to remanufacturing, i.e., reconstructing, used medical sensors.
This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art that may be related to various aspects of the present disclosure, which are described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.
A wide variety of devices have been developed for non-invasively monitoring physiological characteristics of patients. For example, a pulse oximetry sensor system may non-invasively detect various patient blood flood characteristics, such as the blood-oxygen saturation of hemoglobin in arterial blood, the volume of individual blood pulsations supply the tissue, and/or the rate of blood pulsations corresponding to each heart beat of a patient. During operation, the pulse oximeter sensor emits light and photoelectrically senses the absorption and/or scattering of the light after passage through the perfused tissue. A photo-plethysmographic waveform, which corresponds to the cyclic attenuation of optical energy through the patient's tissue, may be generated from the detected light. Additionally, one or more physiological characteristics may be calculated based upon the amount of light absorbed or scattered. More specifically, the light passed through the tissue may be selected to be of one or more wavelengths that may be absorbed or scattered by the blood in an amount correlative to the amount of the blood constituent present in the blood. The amount of light absorbed and/or scattered may then be used to estimate the amount of blood constituent in the tissue using various algorithms.
For example, a reflectance-type sensor placed on a patient's forehead may emit light into the site and detect the light that is “reflected” back after being transmitted through the forehead region. A transmission-type sensor having a bandage configuration may be placed on a finger, wherein the light waves are emitted through and detected on the opposite side of the finger. In either case, the amount of light detected may provide information that corresponds to valuable physiological patient data. The data collected by the sensor may be used to calculate one or more of the above physiological characteristics based upon the absorption or scattering of the light. For instance, the emitted light is typically selected to be of one or more wavelengths that are absorbed or scattered in an amount related to the presence of oxygenated versus de-oxygenated hemoglobin in the blood. The amount of light absorbed and/or scattered may be used to estimate the amount of the oxygen in the tissue using various algorithms.
The sensors generally include one or more emitters that emit the light and one or more detectors that detect the light. During use, the emitter and detector may be held against the patient's skin to facilitate the transmission of light through the skin of the patient. Because these sensors come into contact with patient tissues, and possibly fluids, they are either sanitized for re-use or they are discarded after use. Indeed, many pulse oximeter medical sensors may be disposable and originally intended for use on a single patient. However, even disposable sensors often include relatively expensive components that may be reused if the sensor could be refurbished.